Dark Star Apocalypse
by KhaosOmega
Summary: In a similar vein to Death Road to Canada, a zombie apocalypse - this time triggered by Dark Star Corporation - had consumed the world. But there is a safe haven, and characters from numerous franchises race to get there alive. TRG references abound in this ProtonJon-inspired story, centered on Shantae as she and Anise start their rush to safety. Rated M for anything zombies.
1. Let's Hit the Road!

**Disclaimer: The following is a KhaosOmega fanfic. The only things i own are some plot elements and the occasional character; everything else belongs to their respective owners. Please support the official release.**

 **Summary: Inspired by 'ProtonJon Animated: Mystery of the Ghost Fart' on YouTube, multiple video game characters find themselves dealing with a phenomenon known as a 'Hyper Apocalypse'. But some of their specific equipment slots are locked completely, and others are limited to items meeting certain requirements. Add in the ability to acquire higher-rarity gear to help survive, and things are really going to get crazy real quickly.**

 **Let the chaos begin.**

 **Chapter 1: First Wave**

"Ow, my head." a female voice said as a young girl with long purple hair woke up in an unknown wasteland. "What the heck happened to me?"

"That's what i wanna know." another female piped up from a ways to the purple-haired girl's left. Turns out she had landed next to a girl with long red hair and azure eyes. "The name's Anise." she said, holding out a perfectly manicured hand with neon pink nails.

"Shantae." the purple-haired girl said. "Do you know what's going on?"

"Somewhat. Dark Star Corporation launched something that triggered a phenomenon known as a 'hyper' apocalypse; we have a seriously long way to go to reach the only safe haven on this world. In terms of equipment the gear comes in the three rarity levels from Fallout Shelter, but some slots have been locked completely and others have limiters on them that are either already active or will activate upon acquiring a certain type of item for that particular slot."

"Have you checked your equipment setup yet?" Shantae, curious, asked.

"That was the first thing i checked. My heargear and jacket slots are completely inaccessible, while what in 7 Days to Die is the shirt slot is limited to tube tops like my current one. Females also have access to five slots for earrings, but for some reason i ended up with at least 30."

"You got a nice body, that limitation actually makes you look hotter." a heavily blushing Shantae said.

"Thanks, you got a nice one yourself. Check your equipment setup before we head out." Anise, completely calm, stated.

Taking the suggestion, Shantae promptly opened up a virtual screen to show her equipment slots.

Here's what it read:

 **Name: Shantae**

 **Lv. 1, 0% XP**

 **Current Bonuses: None**

 **Headgear: Empty**

 **Glasses: Empty**

 **Choker: Empty**

 **Necklaces: 5 slots, 5 empty**

 **Earrings: 35 slots, 35 empty**

 **Jacket: Empty**

 **Bracelets: 25 slots, 24 empty (currently equipped: gold VZR-KH bracelets)**

 **Shirt: red BD midriff-baring tube**

 **Leg armor: Locked**

 **Pants: Locked**

 **Hosiery: Empty**

 **Anklets: 10 slots, 10 empty**

 **Shoes: red A/G-type flats**

Shantae didn't anticipate the sheer number of earring slots she had, though Anise had admitted having approximately the same number herself.

What really concerned her was the fact she did not have an occupied slot despite still having her golden hoop earrings already in her ears.

"Anise you might wanna see this." Shantae spoke up.

"Yeah, did i forget to mention you can equip as many hoop earrings as you can without using an equipment slot in that area? I got that same bonus but with hanging pairs. C'mon, we got a long way to go to reach the safe zone. Let me do the driving, i happen to be an Emblem Frame pilot with the Rune Angel wing."

"Okay." Shantae said, then hopped into the passenger seat of a red sedan as Anise got behind the wheel. "Do you have any major bonuses? I don't think the ability to equip a certain type of earrings without using a slot isn't one, i didn't see that aspect on my equipment field."

"Actually i do have one, an effect akin to the Yu-Gi-Oh trap card 'Bad Reaction to Simochi' for my speed when i wear high heels."

"High heels make you faster?! How do i get that bonus?!" Shantae, stars in her eyes, asked.

"Honestly i have no idea, you and this car are the only things i've found in the time i've spent here. I think i started with that bonus. We better get going, it's a very long way to reach the safe zone."

"Okay." Shantae said, then decided to look at the redhead's outfit setup. Like herself, Anise wore a red midriff-baring tube top, but since she had access to her pants slot she had blue jeans with a hole in the left knee and brown Birkenstock Milano sandals with the ankle-straps closed. From experience Shantae knew she was the type to prefer sandals over anything else, whereas the purple-haired girl mostly opted for flats, but choosing THIS design was quite a surprise. At least she didn't pick the slip-on variant.

Once the car was turned on the two girls took off, Shantae's heart racing when the car took off like a rocket down the road. But that wasn't the only reason her heart was racing, for the fact Anise wore a midriff-baring tube top allowed her to clearly see the top of an almost-invisible t-strap thong over top the redhead's jeans.

"Anise, i have a question." Shantae, blushing profusely, said.

"What's the problem, cutie?" Anise flirtatiously asked, causing Shantae's blush to deepen further.

"Are you a... uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-" Because of her major blush and Anise's flirting with her Shantae couldn't gets her thoughts under control.

Thankfully Anise was there to help, but not in a way Shantae expected.

"You're wondering if i'm a lesbian, right?" Anise, now in just her thong and sandals, asked as she leaned close to her blushing ally. "I'm bisexual, actually. To me it doesn't matter what my potential sex partner's gender is, if they're hot i'm into having a relationship with them."

"You don't wear a bra?!" Shantae suddenly asked, her blush deeper yet on noticing Anise's tits (which were far larger than she anticipated) completely exposed.

"I can't, my tits are too big for one. Heck, midriff-baring tube tops are the only way i can even adequately cover them, only because the ones i wear are made specifically for my huge bust."

"Well then, can't you cover yourself up at least? I don't wanna die due to your body distracting me."

Anise stopped the car, knowing Shantae had a point about her current lack of clothing. She also knew that even with her only option for her shirt slot equipped her bust was so big it would give the purple-haired girl a hard time keeping her feelings for the red-haired beauty in check.

"Okay." Anise said, then opened her equipment holo-screen. The tube top she had been wearing earlier materialized without any problems whatsoever, perfectly cupping her massive bust without the need for a bra (which with her bust size was less than useless anyway).

"DAMNIT, NOT AGAIN!" she yelled when nothing materialized to cover her thong.

"You have some sort of semi-hidden limiter on your pants slot?" Shantae asked, also wondering why nothing happened.

"Must be, i've tried everything eligible for that slot but one. Only problem is i've never been able to find a pair of that type." Anise said, making a sheet of paper materialize in her hand.

Looking at it Shantae saw the one type of clothing for the redhead's troublesome equipment slot that hadn't been crossed out.

And she had a unit of that very type in her inventory that very moment.

"Here, see if these will reveal that limiter." Shantae said as she handed Anise her otherwise-useless harem pants. Taking them Anise first put them on so her inventory system would register them, then used her holo-screen to doff them before attempting to have them rematerialize on her.

This time they did in fact rematerialize on her; Anise promptly hugged Shantae in a way that the purple-haired girl's face was buried in the redhead's massive bust.

"Thanks Shantae, that actually worked!"

"Nice to hear it, they were useless to me anyway with that slot locked."

"At least you even got that slot; i never received the choker slot even though i have one on right now."

"Maybe Dark Star Corporation never gave you that slot because they viewed it as too important to your looks to risk you not wearing one, putting you in your current choker in order to activate the same effect regarding me and hoop earrings."

"You may be on to something there. C'mon, we got daylight to burn, zombies to kill, and gear to find."

"And potential teammates."

"That too." With that, Anise floored the gas causing the car to take off like a rocket. This time Shantae lowered her window to let her signature ponytail fly behind her in the wind. The duo proceeded to stop at a thankfully empty (of zombies, though multiple zombie corpses were already in torrid shape indicating someone else had been there before them) city.

One particular corpse appeared to get the wrong end of a fiery shotgun shell.

"Seems like Yang was part of the last team to pass through here." Anise said as she investigated this remnant of a zombie.

(In a motel on the opposite side of the city a blonde woke up, with a strange urge to punch whoever just made a homeworld pun involving her.)

"Zombie got the wrong end of her shotgun gauntlets?" Shantae asked.

"Yeah, that's the only possible cause of this type of damage pattern. Let's get searching, see if we can't find anything to defend ourselves with in case of horde."

"Right." Deciding to stick together to increase their odds of survival, the two girls entered a random building. Anise managed to find a SPAS-12 shotgun and fifty-six shells in a crate, whereas Shantae equipped herself with an MP5K SMG and six full clips of ammo. Another building nearby allowed the two to load up on medical supplies, a third saw them stock up on food (Anise told Shantae it wasn't smart to fight zombies on an empty tummy), and at one that only Shantae entered she acquired equipment types that neither she nor Anise could use (when asked by Anise she explained the possibility of a potential teammate having a limiter mandating an acquired equipment type they had yet to find like what had happened earlier between the two).


	2. Teammates, Surprises, and TRG Effects

**Disclaimer: The following is a KhaosOmega fanfic. The only things i own are the occasional OC and some plot elements; everything else belongs to their respective owners. Please support the official release.**

 **Chapter Summary: After getting fortunate to only encounter zombies a previous team to the location dealt with, Anise and Shantae soon find themselves with a new teammate on a run-in with the previous team in question. What they don't yet know, however, is that said teammate has a special bonus regarding a currently-inactive limiter that doesn't get revealed until a later chapter.**

 **Or the fact this teammate has an XRX-rarity weapon on hand, which makes itself known when they get confronted by a horde.**

 **Chapter 2: First Encounters**

A loud gunshot first thing in the morning woke Anise and Shantae up.

"What the heck was that?!" Shantae asked, her heart racing.

"I think another team encountered some zombies."

"Is Yang in that team? So far she's the only other person to have anything akin to a shotgun, considering you were right next to me when the gunshot went off."

"Lemme check." Anise said as she pulled a nearby shade out just enough to get a look at the chaos going on below. "It's Yang all right, but she's not alone, the rest of Team RWBY's with her."

"Wait, isn't RWBY an all-girls team?" Shantae asked as she looked out the window herself. "There appears to be a boy there with them. And judging by the hair color, if he's related to one of them it's most likely Weiss."

"Yeah, that's Weiss' little brother Whitley." a female voice said from behind them.

Glancing behind them the two saw an orange-haired girl clad in a yellow-orange sleeveless midriff-baring crop top, a matching ruffled miniskirt, and deep orange two-and-a-half-inch pumps. Strapped to her back was an L115 sniper rifle.

"Daisy, how long were you there?!" Shantae asked.

"I actually got here before RWBY did. Their namesake leader is how i obtained my L115, her scythe doubles as a sniper rifle. If i joined you, i could serve as overwatch and sniper support while you two deal with the zombies up close."

"She has a point, the L115 is a sniper rifle, whereas you have an MP5K and i found a shotgun." Anise said.

"You're right. Alright, Daisy, welcome to the team."

"Hey, why am i reading eight life signals in the area?" a female from outside asked. "Five for sure are us, but there's three others nearby."

"In here." Daisy (who had gone to the door while neither Anise nor Shantae were looking) piped up.

"You girls knew we were here?" the black-haired one asked.

"I actually got here ahead of you five, Anise here recognized Yang was part of your group from a dead zombie having Ember Celica's telltale damage pattern."

"Ah, okay. Do you have room for one more in your group? Whitley here's been in a predicament from the start since he's afraid he has a limiter that hasn't revealed itself yet. It's in a vital equipment slot, hence why he's afraid of it."

"Sure." Shantae said immediately. "I've already helped Anise with a similar situation, she had a hidden limiter on a slot i can't use."

"Oughta explain why i can clearly see your panties." Weiss remarked.

"Yeah, that and the armor option for it are both locked. If i manage to find something i can equip myself for the lower end i can actually equip something on my thighs, it's the only way i can cover something there."

"Didn't you obtain something like that yesterday?" Anise asked.

"Yeah, but it's not one i can actually equip myself. I know, i checked when i acquired it."

"At least you remembered to check as you picked it up. Did you see who is more compatible for it?"

"Actually it seems to be an item intended for Whitley. Judging by a combination of length and which direction it starts from it seems to be something more for girls than boys, but part of me feels like it actually directly relates to this hidden limiter."

"Only one way to find out." Whitley stated as his sister and her teammates left. Much like earlier with Anise, Shantae pulled the intended item out of her inventory and handed it to Whitley.

This time the item in question was a pair of white platform thigh-high boots with stiletto heels almost thrice those of Daisy's pumps. While he was curious as to why such an item would be designated for him and not a girl, he decided to just equip it anyway.

It proved to be the right decision because as he gained a little over seven inches in height a rainbow aura erupted, hinting at a massive power boost.

For some reason it also seemed to have an effect on Daisy, who was now sporting a serious blush while fidgeting with her miniskirt.

"Shantae, by any chance did that particular pair have TRG Effect A239-MP6FS?"

"I think it had a fusion of it and XR Effect R34, the latter one seemingly synced to the mystery limiter."

"TRG Effect?" a confused Whitley asked.

"It stands for a group called TheRunawayGuys. A239 is a Halo-origin code for ChuggaaConroy, real name Emile, with MP6 standing for Mario Party 6 and FS being the highest-scoring of the Mario Party 6 boards, Faire Square. If it links the way i think it does since we now have a male on our team i feel like he and Daisy might end up having intense vaginal sex some morning."

"At least it isn't the actual TRG Emile who's with us, Daisy might've already given him a knuckle sandwich to the teeth for the comment sequence behind this particular TRG Effect's code."

"And no Emile means Jon would be safe with us partly as we don't currently have any mushrooms."

"Huh?"

"TRG Effect MP1-DETM, which seriously effects Jon whenever mushrooms are involved. He could never time the Mushroom Space roulette in Mario Party 1, which usually saw Emile tell him 'Don't eat the mushroom'." Shantae explained.

"That's where my comment about a Daisy-dealt knuckle sandwich to the teeth originated." Anise added. "Jon intercepted one such move with a claim that knuckle sandwiches were great for one's teeth. Funniest part about that one was that it came on Peach's personal board from the game, a cake-themed level."

"Why am i the only one who hasn't had a personal board yet?" Daisy asked. "I didn't make my Mario Party debut until the third game, but Waluigi, who debuted alongside me, got a personal board in that very game. Furthermore, Toad, Boo, and Koopa Kid, all of whom debuted in Mario Party 5, had personal boards in 4, and Toadette, who debuted in 6, had a personal board in DS."

"You only went up to Mario Party 6, though. Aren't there four more console games after it?"

"I only went up to 6 because it was up through there that i was the only one without a personal board."

"What about Backtrack, from your debut game in the series?"

"Duel Board. Also, in that category, Luigi was the wild card, whichever of the other six originals was the Story Mode player he took their Duel slot."

"Well, we need to get going, it's a long way to the safe zone still. Maybe, if we're lucky, we can get more teams to align with us, improve our odds of survival."

"Right."

Two hours later the group of four were on the road again, Shantae now in back with Daisy so Whitley could rest his legs on the dashboard. Part of the reason for this seating change was directly related to the now-revealed limiter preventing Whitley from wearing anything that wasn't a white thigh-high stiletto boot in the affected slot. Along the way Shantae learned XR Effect R34 was a limiter-manipulating effect that usually limited someone to an item they wore in the affected slot in a piece of Rule 34 art.

Strangely, the art behind XR Effect R34 being active on Whitley in the slot it was had him paired with his elder sisters.

And as soon as she realized which slot XR Effect R34 had hit Whitley she wondered if the same had happened to her. Her only way to find out if it in fact had was to get some orange platform stiletto pumps, but that was the one item to potentially be affected by such a limiter she hadn't found. On top of that, Whitley was currently the only confirmed RWBY-origin person to even HAVE such a limiter.

Granted, the only ones she knew of besides him were the titular team his sister Weiss belonged to, so she couldn't completely rule out the odds of another from their world having such a limiter. But the most likely possibilities for this occurrance were the mute Neo and the mint-greenette thief Emerald. She was personally hoping for the latter, as at least Emerald could talk. If she was with Mercury, even better, they would have quite the mechanic with them.

Speaking of Emerald, a mint-green lookalike of the current group's car pulled up alongside them. Sure enough, both Emerald AND Mercury were there, but the driver was most surprising.

Anise's Rune Angel teammate Kazuya Shiranami.


	3. More Surprises and Shocking Revelations

**Disclaimer: The following is a KhaosOmega fanfic. The only things i own are some characters and the occasional plot element; everything else belongs to their respective owners. Please support the official release.**

 **Chapter summary: Now seven members strong, Anise, now reunited with one of her native teammates, and her team continues their trip to the safe zone. With more strong gear available and better tactics to use against zombies their odds of making it have gone up. But Shantae still wonders if she got a limiter akin to Whitley's while also hoping to find potential new teammates compatible with limiter-centric gear she had obtained near the end of chapter 1.**

 **Little does she know one of her highest-ranked such items happens to be specifically for one of the new teammates who just joined her group.**

 **Chapter 3: More of the Same**

Shantae could only watch as Anise talked animatedly with her brown-haired teammate from the Rune Angel wing. The two cars had stopped as a gas station so both could be topped off while Mercury Black worked on keeping them in peak condition since they still had a long way to go.

"Whitley get a limiter affected by XR Effect R34 down there?" Emerald asked the purple-haired girl.

"Yeah. Somehow it also triggered a Mario Party-based effect on Daisy originating with a group dubbed TheRunawayGuys. A239-MP6FS specifically; i feel like some morning Whitley might end up roughly fucking Daisy's cunt because of it."

"Ah, the Chuggaa's Lost Innocence stream. To quench it as soon as possible, first rest point we have a chance for we have him and Daisy share a room; if he wakes up with a hard cock the effect on Daisy will most likely force her to have him take her pussy as roughly as possible. Let's just hope we don't get both Emile and Jon along the way, otherwise MP1-DETM kicks in."

"On Jon, anyway, Emile kept telling him not to eat the bad mushroom whenever he botched the Mushroom Space roulette. But how did you assume Whitley got XR Effect R34 on one of his limiters?"

"It's actually quite obvious if his only options for the affected slot are white thigh-high stiletto boots."

" _Khaos._ "

"Yeah, i was thinking the same thing when i saw what Whitley's limiter was set to if XR Effect R34 hit him. But how did you end up with the two slots meant to cover your panties locked?"

"Honestly i don't know, but i have a hunch XR Effect R34 is involved in some way. I just need to hope i can obtain some orange platform stiletto pumps to find out if it is or not."

"Uh, if it is, i feel like you might've actually gotten the Mercy branch through it. They're much closer to your normal shoes' color, but much more extreme than the option you think it gave you."

"Mercy branch? As in Code 07Ω? The half-inch-higher evolution of Ace Skyfyre's Ice Star heels? If you're right i'll have to get some black thigh-highs to go with it, it'll at least give me _some_ coverage on my thighs."

"True, but we'll need to get farther along to possibly find out which option you got."

"Right. How come Mercury's mechanical skill is so high, though? He really seems to know what he's doing."

"Actually, it's because his lower legs are prosthetics, he works to maintain them all the time."

"Well, at least he doesn't have to worry about having a limiter like Whitley's."

"True. I feel like such a limiter may have gone from him to Kazuya, though, if THAT route from the first Galaxy Angel II game was implemented into this."

"If Whitley got XR Effect R34 deployed on a limiter only allowing him to wear thigh-high stiletto boots in one slot, knowing what i do regarding Khaos there's a good chance it did. Merc even picked up something that directly relates to the route in question, he just wants to have the entire look in our group's inventory before trying it."

"We have one less such item to worry about then, i picked up one that when i checked its specifics said it was meant for Kazuya. Which slot is Mercury's item for?"

"Arms. Yours?"

"Choker, which i don't know HOW he ended up with. It definitely feels like THAT route got tagged on him for this if he has the choker slot."

"Okay team, let's go!" Anise called out. Grouping back into the same cars in the same seating arrangement as before the two vehicles hit the road again. Two soon became four when a purple car pulled up to Shantae's side of her vehicle so she could transfer to the purple one while a brown-and-yellow car, driven by a guy with short black hair dropped in behind the rest. Also in the backmost car were a red-haired male in bluish armor and glasses, a girl with long orange hair and Eggman's shades who was riding shotgun, and a blonde female with a hanging Kirby earring in her ear.

In the car Shantae shifted to, meanwhile, were two brown-haired males wearing matching purple caps with a yellow capital Gamma symbol in a white circle on the front (the skinnier one, with a Dick Dastardly mustache, a purple shirt, black overalls, and what looked to be a more winter-oriented version of Shantae's flats, was driving), and a figure Shantae recognized on sight as Link.

It was at that moment that she realized, eyes wide, what she had just triggered. TRG Effect DR2C-GF, also known as the Mystery of the Ghost Fart. Her being with Link and Waluigi (and Jon, whose animated form was usually as Waluigi), while Emile, Lucahjin, Mal, and the red-haired male (who looked a lot like Fire Emblem's Roy but was most likely actually Tom Fawkes) were in the other vehicle reminded her of a specific animated scene on YouTube.

And as soon as that happened a new limiter in her caps slot made itself known; she had been animated into the scene in the role of one of Jon's co-commentators, with Mitch as Link, Jon as his usual animated guise of Waluigi (also extending to Emile as DK and Tim as Yoshi, the latter in an angel form having died earlier in that particular run having been one of the starters), and Tom (who had been in the in-game group at the time) as Roy. On top of that, Mal's Kirby earring and Lucah's Eggman shades linked to their own animated forms (Kirby and Eggman respectively).

"Daisy, remember when i said TRG Effect A239-MP6FS might have been activated?" Shantae asked into a communicator everyone was equipped with.

"If Emile's now with us i'll make sure HE eats the bad mushroom."

"He's in the car in back, with Tom Fawkes, Jon's fiancee Reese, and a girl wearing a Kirby earring named Mal."

"You activated DR2C-GF?! Well, there goes a good chunk of my straight orientation."

"Emile's comments behind A239-MP6FS?"

"No, you now have a limiter in your headgear slot active. The reason my orientation just made a considerable shift to matching Anise is it only allows you to wear a Luigi cap."

"Oh, right, you're usually considered Luigi's version of his brother Mario's girlfriend Peach. I like your newer dress better, but for hair length i'll have to go with the longer style from before the redesign that gave you said dress."

"Same here. My ruffled miniskirt is actually a more sports-oriented outfit based on the newer dress."

"The heels i'm gonna say came with the dress, but where did the crop top come from?"

"It's from my strikers outfit. Peach got her own version of the same outfit for the same game, but for her such an outfit is a bit more risque."

"Yeah, she's more conservative, to me her best outfit would have to be her main dress, whereas with you i can't exactly decide considering you don't normally act like a princess."

"True. I'd be able to embrace more of my tomboy aspect if i didn't have limiters keeping me to the mini and heels."

"Khaos, don't forget, if he's involved the limiter forcing you to wear heels must be why A239-MP6FS activated in the first place."

"Riiiiiiiight, to him a girl involved in sexual activity has to wear their high heels throughout. Probably should've worn panties under my skirt, then."

"I have to, my pants slot is inaccessible, that's why Anise has the pair i normally wore with my current top. Her limiter kept erasing any other type for that slot she had equipped, but the lower part of my normal outfit proved to be compatible with it."

That night at the rest stop Shantae learned that someone had farted in Emile's car but the culprit couldn't be identified. Much like in the animated special behind the TRG Effect she inadvertently triggered, which Tom got away with. Emile, speaking of him, ended up sharing a room with Jon while Whitley shared with Daisy on the opposite side of the building.

When morning came around Whitley, who had opted to keep the white thigh-high stiletto boots Shantae gave him on all night, ended up giving Daisy the sexual activity that had been predicted through TRG Effect A239-MP6FS.

It was then that another car pulled up to their rest stop, with an item that would determine which theory regarding Shantae's hidden limiter was correct.

A white car with the Overwatch symbol on it, currently with only two occupants. The driver was a blonde female clad in a set of winged armor and with a healing staff strapped to her back, while her companion was a hot brunette clad in a blue version of Anise's top, a matching version of Daisy's ruffled miniskirt, and red ankle-strap D'Orsay pumps with very high stiletto heels that were locked on.

"Angela, are you sure this is where the intended recipient of that item i found is?" the brunette asked.

"Of course, Hana, why else would there be four other cars here?"

"I dunno, maybe four other teams got here ahead of us?"

"Who else has a mint green car?"

"How do you even know that?! They're from another dimension entirely!"

"True, but i don't think that matters in this situation."

"Good point." Hana said. It was then that she realized Angela had left her at the cars.

"ANGIE!" Emerald, having just noticed who had joined them, yelled excitedly.

"EMMY!" Angela yelled with equal excitement. "Nice to see you've survived up to this point."

"Lucky we haven't run into anything bad yet, the only one who has is Whitley and he was with his sister Weiss' team at the time. Merc and i ended up encountering Whitley with three different girls, one of whom is one of Kazuya's homeworld teammates. Apparantly one of the girls, a purple-haired one, had found an item for one of his slots, which has a limiter infused with XR Effect R34 on it."

"By 'purple-haired girl', are you talking about Shantae?" Angela asked.

"That's her. You find something for her?"

"Yeah, for the same slot Whitley got XR Effect R34 on. Hana, my partner, has it, but she needed to use a Rainbow Super Skill to enter where it was."

"Rainbow Super Skill? And you said Hana had to use it to obtain Shantae's item? That's definitely a Code 07Ω alright, Rainbow Super Skills require one to have a Rainbow Angel variant and Hana's only one is Series 07Ω's Alpha."

"Oh, that's right, Shantae's Series R34 Rainbow Angel variant has the orange platforms. How would she fight zombies, though, in non-platform seven-and-a-half-inch stilettos?"

"It depends on what Khaos Effects she gets with them."

"Khaos Effects? What exactly do they do?" Mercury asked as he popped around a nearby corner.

"Think of them as more powerful, permanent versions of some temporary effects one can get from their gear. The specific effects vary based on which numbers you get, but they always benefit the wearer in some form."

"Which ones do you think she might get?" a curious Jon (who had been behind the same corner as Mercury) asked.

"Honestly i'll be surprised if she doesn't get Khaos Effect 109, which is essentially a case of Bad Reaction to Simochi on her speed level when she wears high heels."

"Right, high heels normally slow the wearer down." Mercury stated.

"Yeah, and this Bad Reaction to Simochi trap card from the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise reverses the normal effects in regards to effects regarding the card's controller's Life Points." Jon added. "It's known to be quite annoying for someone facing a deck focused on utilizing that trap to boost their Life Points through the roof when the effects normally send them down. By the way, Mercury, how is it you're so familiar with high heels?"

"All three of the girls i normally work with, counting Emerald here, wear them normally. Neo has to, though, considering she's very short for someone her age. She's gonna be really tough for zombies to kill with THAT ability of hers."

"As if she'll even end up in that position with how well her defensive style works. Heck, if i remember correctly she easily dispatched Yang before her Semblance could fully take effect, and that's something borderline impossible for any normal person to pull off."

"No kidding. Yang's so dangerous when she's _calm_ ; if her hair gets damaged she loses it and becomes that much more of a threat."

"Good thing she isn't with us right now. Her sister's partner's brother Whitley is, afflicted with XR Effect R34 limiting him to white thigh-high stiletto boots in the same slot this hidden limiter of Shantae's we're talking about most likely is. Knowing Khaos the way i do, high heel-based effects are pretty much the status quo, especially if they work the complete opposite of the norm for such shoes."

"No kidding. High heels and Khaos are basically a top-level match, and it isn't just females who get such shoes. Like the case with Whitley, Khaos is known to put male characters in high heels, and often with the same related skillset as girls. Heck, he even put one male character with no experience whatsoever in a pair of knee-high ballet boots and gave him the same ballet boot skill boost as Rosa Copeland. I wonder if we'll run into a variant of that male on our way to safety."

"Only one way to find out. But first we need to give Shantae the item for her limiter."

"Right. Let's go." With that, Angela returned to her car while Emerald went to find Shantae.

Mercury thankfully found both of them next to each other.

"Found them." he said into his communicator.

"Thanks Merc." Emerald responded. She and Jon then rounded a nearby corner just as Angela, slightly out of breath, caught up.

"So, what exactly did you guys find out?" Shantae asked.

"You got the same XR Effect-imbued limiter Whitley got, but Angela confirmed the method Hana here needed to acquire the necessary item to be a case of XR Effect 07Ω, she had to use a Rainbow Super Skill to get to it and her only confirmed Rainbow Angel variant is Series 07Ω's Alpha. We're expecting Khaos Effect 109, which should make it easier for you to fight any zombies we run into while wearing such extreme stilettos. It's numbered such for a default XQ skill named after Jet's eldest sister Hollie."

"Any others i should anticipate?"

"None that i can list right now, 109's the only one whose effect i actually know. You're gonna have to check your equipment gauge again to see which ones you got."

"At least i know i'm getting an ability that counters the seriously extreme heel for sure." Shantae said. "Knowing what i do regarding Khaos it's pretty much guaranteed Whitley got that particular Khaos Effect as well, and high heels are usually for girls to begin with."

"No kidding. Any time Khaos is involved in anything involving high heels expect him to ignore the normal rules regarding who wears them as well as going quite extreme in a pair's instep a lot of the time. Heck, most of Jet's girls' signature heels are pairs from Khaos' unknown realm."

"Uh, by 'signature' you're referring to the Prime Series, right?"

"Of course i am, the Rainbow Super Skill gave me enough knowledge to know any non-Prime Series girl is limited to her Series' mandatory heels. Sure, a good number of them require some very extreme high heels, such as my variant's Series, but they still mandate heels nonetheless."

"I think 4116 doesn't, actually." Kazuya piped up as he rounded a nearby corner.

"Uh, which one's 4116? There's so many Series in that Bond it's hard to keep track of which one's which." a confused Shantae asked.

Anise rounded the nearby corner at that moment, now flashing some white panties and in some silver flip-flops.

Jon, who was from their dimension of origin, recognized them instantly as the particularly sexy Old Navy Zelica flip-flops considered Hollie Brazie's signature pair of the summery style.

"It's that crotch boot/ballet flat hybrid Series Jet discovered in Unova his third run through the leagues of a Pokemon world. The one where he was chasing that Last One Bonus-empowered Ursula variant."

"Isn't that the same run where he discovered Series 2246X?"

"You mean the one mandating those black thigh-high ballet boots with the related collar and nothing much else?"

"Doesn't the base version have the same requirements?" Shantae asked.

"Yeah, but the X version requires the girls to be pretty much nude at all times." Anise piped up. "His next run he ended up discovering Series 2177L; Hana's Rainbow Angel variant thought her world's version of Angela was the Alpha of Series 07Ω through what's known as the 2177L effect, that Series' Alpha is a variant of Prime Series Rainbow Angel Yolande."

"Okay, what does this girl you're referring to have to do with Series 2177L?"

"Yolande initially made an inadvertant revelation in Anastasia Brayton's room in 2126, at which point my ZVE variant revealed a different version of the girl whom the boy that got Rosa's skill boost in ballet boots romantically paired with. She joined in 2177, and the 'L' part is the leadoff letter of her main alias 'Lightning'; Yolande tried putting her through what she herself went through by Jet on Anastasia's orders but was thwarted and then put through the Series' Bond trigger. It's thanks to a variant of May that joined the hyper-massive harem on Jet's fourth run that he was more than ready to trigger this Yolande variant's Bonding, not to mention beginning his shift to going all-out on outfit selections in regards to his dual-gender status."

"I take it Jet's more likely to go out in skirts now; before then he only implemented it with the same stockings and heels from that 7778 variant normally referred to by the name of its Alpha."

"You guessed correct Emmy, but it isn't just skirts; there's increased odds of seeing him out and about in a dress, which is even more of a feminine outfit than a skirt. Heck, the only dress he owns to be compatible with shoes that actually don't have high heels is that dress paired with Khaos' preferred pair of Jasmine's sandals. The pair from her original Gen. II look, more specifically. Combine that with the fact he normally requires any dress to be worn with high heels if the specific girl doesn't own any compatible flat shoes and i'm hoping that if i happen to be a Rainbow Angel myself i get to see him in a wedding dress, one of his favorite pairs of high heels is a bridal platform stiletto peep-toe pump that doubles as the mandatory heels for Series 3300."

"Huh? How many of them are combat-oriented?"

"Only Becky, who was another girl to join the Rainbow Angels during Jet's third run; the ones who joined before her went all-out bridal for different reasons. Remember Yolande? She has a Series 3300 variant who ended up getting stuck with an entirely bridal wardrobe because Anastasia did something to her that left her wedding dress the only available outfit for as to avoid confusion with said Series 3300 variant. Directly related to the number and Bond trigger of Series 2177L. Takaro, whose addition caused my ZVE variant's Rainbow Angel teammate to tweak her name to Takara, went all-out bridal in tribute to one of her home-world teammates; she's from a different Nutaku-linked world than Series 3300's Alpha Kandyce, who especially took the theme to heart as her Flower Knight basis is as a bridal version of her 'normal' variant."

"Takara?" Emerald asked. "Oh, you mean the purple-haired mage from Series 500. What color is her Rosa EX design?"

"White, just like her original two-inch-heeled pair. She had been wanting to be forever locked in thigh-high ballet boots for three years before Zelixena-born teammate Jace Davies used a transmission chain to get them for her through Rosa Copeland, for whom the Rosa EX design was named."

"Speaking of ballet boots, Merc, you said Neo was extremely short even with her normal heels, right?"

"You're hoping one of us can find a pair of ballet boots for her before we locate Neo herself, aren't you?" Mercury questioned.

"Oh yeah, her normal heels i'd say only boost her four inches and ballet boots normally bump it up at least seven. According to some research i did before this hyper apocalypse was triggered - it's not as bad as it normally would be, the device responsible i think set off an XQ defense system before going off itself - Neo with her normal four inch boots is only four foot ten."

"Anise that's a brilliant idea!" Emerald squealed, having glomped the redhead before anyone could react.

"Let's just hope it doesn't trigger a repeat of what happened to her in 2330." Mercury muttered.

"What do you mean?" Shantae asked, confusion evident.

"She drew Series 2246X. It came with a form change that made her taller, but it also restricted her solely to the ballet boots and a related collar."

"Which means if this Neo happens to be a Rainbow Angel limited to ballet boots she'll be of a Series she can be fully clothed in."

"Exactly. Preferably one requiring her ballet boots to be knee-high, though, as her main four inch stiletto boots are knee-high. Thigh-highs she might be okay with as 2246X mandates such ballet boots, but there's an associated risk regarding how tight they end up, as if a thigh-high ballet boot is past a certain threshold in regards to how tight they are she might not be able to bend her knees."

"Yeah, let's hope her ballets are knee-high for her sake."

"No kidding Merc. D60, that former Dark Vector agent with the wickedly extreme fetish for very high-heeled boots, every ballet boot she wears instantly tightens to the point she can't bend her knees. She doesn't have any problems with that, though, her fetish for extreme-heeled thigh boots is THAT strong."

"Does she even have ANY boots with lower insteps?" Shantae asked, worried about this unknown 'D60'.

"Only two, her original non-platform four-and-a-half inch Cipher stiletto thigh boots and a black platform stiletto ankle boot the OZ version of my teammate Lily considers her signature pair. The latter's her only wearable high heel boot not to be at least thigh-high." Anise stated.

Angela suddenly gasped, eyes wide.

"What is it?" Emerald asked, curious.

"There was a girl with dark blue hair even longer than Anise when she went Rainbow Nova in Antheum locked in those very ankle boots over these really sexy white thigh-highs she had secured with a matching garterbelt. I really got quite a glimpse of that garterbelt, her skirt was almost non-existant. She was surrounded by at least three thousand zombie corpses, the closest one of them came to getting her was one who came close enough that she tore her top off. I swear the way her bust rapidly expanded it reminded me of Starshroud."

"She must've gotten the same effect Amethyst did, my variant from OZ created Starshroud to make Forte think the then-26 former Moon Angel had the much larger bust." Anise, blushing up a storm, revealed. "I actually had a feeling she got it, before she got those ankle boots she wore heels in the range of what Amethyst normally wore prior to that power boost before the final battle where she suddenly gained the Rainbow Omega Cannon. It's just she concealed the fact quite well with those sexy corsets, i actually attempted seducing her a few times and was unsuccessful. What kind of top was she wearing when you saw her?"

"Some random white t-shirt that looked like it wasn't in good shape."

"Thank goodness, her huge collection of those corsets are designed so they can't be damaged at all. I'm actually wondering just how massive her bust really is, Amethyst is right on the borderline and there's a chance Lily might be even more endowed than that. Hopefully we can locate her again before either of us gets caught up in zombies."

"Right. Hana, you might wanna give Shantae the item you acquired for her." Angela piped up.

"Sure thing." the brunette, who was startled when she was addressed directly, stated. With a flash of light the item appeared in Hana's hand.

The item was a pair of red non-platform pumps with seven-and-a-half inch stiletto heels.

Anise gasped as soon as she saw them.

"Shantae, you got XR Effect R34 alright, but it hit you harder than it did Whitley. That's why your pants and leg armor slots got locked, your Series R34 variant's the one who got the orange platforms."

"SHIT! I really need some stay-up stockings, if what i know about that particular origin image is correct."

"Oh you do alright, you need a black pair. The pants and leg armor slots being locked are because in the image your bare butt was facing the viewer, and your right foot was angled to confirm the extreme stiletto pumps. Don't equip those heels yet, if you end up a Rainbow Angel in Series 07Ω you might wanna get the stockings first. Anywho, we really gotta get searching for stuff."

"Right."


End file.
